UNB, Dhaka, 5 April : The Appellate Division of Bangladesh Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed Prof Muhammad Yunus’ plea for leave to appeal against the High Court judgment that had affirmed his removal as managing director of Grameen Bank.Hearing both sides, a seven-member Appellate Division bench, headed by Chief Justice ABM Khairul Haque, passed the order, putting the last nail in Yunus’ coffin.
Emerging from the court, Dr Kamal Hossain, the principal counsel for Nobel Laureate Yunus, declined to make any comment on whether his client would continue attending his office following the day’s apex court order. He, however, said it would not be wise to say anything about Yunus’ fate until the results of another similar petition, which comes up for hearing tomorrow (Wednesday).
Meanwhile, Attorney General Mahbubey Alam told reporters that Prof Yunus should not continue in office following today’s court order. “It will be illegal if Prof Yunus lingers in office.”
On 2 March, Bangladesh Bank removed septuagenarian Yunus on charges of violating a special ordinance governing the Grameen Bank that set 60 as the retirement age for the managing director.
Besides, Yunus failed to seek Bangladesh Bank’s approval when he was reappointed as the managing director in 1999, violating one of the statutes of the Grameen Bank.... ALSO READ BBC's REPORT န Photos : Reuters
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Displaced villagers to block Assam-Agartala NH44 tomorrow
Agartala, 5 April : Hundreds of villagers, displaced due to erection of barbed wire fencing along the Indo-Bangla international border, would block the Assam-Agartala National Highway (NH44) under the banner of Tripura Shimanta Bhoomi Suraksha Committee (TSBSC) at Rshambagan, near here tomorrow.
President of TSBSC, also an opposition Congress MLA, Subal Bhowmik said the decision to block the road was taken to press for 19-point charter of demands including proper rehabilitation of the affected people. "More than 9500 families were displaced due to erection of fencing along the border, but the state government always turned blind eyes to their problems. We had no other alternative to press for our demands", Bhowmick told reporters today.
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Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee files nomination
Kolkata, 5 April : Amidst tight security, Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee today filed his nomination from Jadavpur constituency in South 24-Parganas district which will go to polls on 27 April in the third phase of Assembly elections in West Bengal.
The nomination was filed at South 24-Parganas district administrative office at Alipore. Chief Minister, who is seeking re-election from the constituency, is pitted against Trinamool Congress candidate and former chief secretary of the state Manish Gupta.
Bhattacharjee was accompanied by his election agent and former mayor of Kolkata Municipal Corporation Bikas Ranjan Bhattacharya and South 24-Parganas district CPI(M) secretary and former MP Sujan Chakraborty.
Notification for filing of nominations for the third phase of elections involving 75 constituencies in Kolkata, North-24 Parganas and South-Parganas districts was issued on 2 April.
The last date for filing of nominations is 9 April. န Photo : Shankar Mondal
The last date for filing of nominations is 9 April. န Photo : Shankar Mondal
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FICCI's GS, TMC candidate Amit Mitra quits Air India Board
PTI, New Delhi, 5 April : FICCI Secretary General Amit Mitra, who is contesting as a Trinamool Congress candidate in the West Bengal Assembly elections, has put in his papers from the Air India Board as an independent Director.
Mitra, who joined Trinamool Congress in mid-March, is understood to have sent in his resignation to Civil Aviation Minister Vayalar Ravi, just ahead of hitting the campaign trail, sources said.
The top FICCI official is pitted against senior CPI(M) leader and state Finance Minister Asim Dasgupta in Khardaha Assembly constituency in North 24 Parganas.
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Editors Guild of India condole Ajit Bhattacharjea's death
New Delhi, 5 April : Editors Guild of India today condoled the death of veteran journalist Ajit Bhattacharjea, describing him as an ardent champion of the freedom of the press.
Besides strongly believing in the autonomy of the editor, he held that a newspaper editor was also accountable to his readers, the Guild said in a statement.
"Among the many issues he took up was the campaign against the proposed Defamation Bill which the Rajiv Gandhi government was keen to enact in the early 1980s. The Bill was subsequently withdrawn," T N Ninan and Coomi Kapoor of the Editors Guild said in the statement.
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Trinamool Congress chief Mamata's paintings fetch Rs 50L
Kolkata, 5 April : Trinamool Congress chief, Mamata Banerjee, who exhibited her paintings for sale to raise fund for her party's poll expenses, received thumping appreciation from eminent artists and the organiser collected over Rs 50 lakh here yesterday. Of the 98 paintings displayed, proceeds of which will go to the party's mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla, 20 were sold on the first day of the three-day exhibition-cum-sale at a private art gallery. Three paintings were not for sale.
The buyers include industrialist Harsh Neotia, co-owner of IPL franchisee Kolkata Knight Riders (KKR), Jay Mehta and President of the Cricket Association of Bengal (CAB), Jagmohan Dalmiya.
Inaugurated by eminent painter Jogen Chowdhury, the exhibition titled '25 Hours In A Day', was widely appreciated by painters Shuvaprasanna and Sameer Aich, dance exponent Amala Shankar, singer Dwijen Mukherjee and actress Sandhya Roy among others. န Photo : Avijit Mondal
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Veteran journalist Ajit Bhattacharjea dead in New Delhi
New Delhi, 5 April : Veteran journalist Ajit Bhattacharjea, a leading figure of the right to information movement, died at his home here today after protracted illness. He was 87 and survived by a son and two daughters.
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Stardom never affected me, said actress Sharmila Tagore
PTI, New Delhi, 5 April : She started her film career as Apu's young wife in Satyajit Ray's film at the age of 14. Now at 66, Sharmila Tagore says she is busy doing things other than cinema. The actress was recently seen in Shangeeta Datta's 'Life Goes On' with daughter Soha.Sharmila played a woman, who is mourned by her three daughters and her husband in the movie, a modern adaptation of Shakespeare's 'King Lear'.
At the moment Sharmila has not signed on anything new as she wants to do meaningful things that include her involvement with charities.
"I don't have any movie at the moment. I am very busy doing lots of other things. I was recently in Washington participating in Kennedy centre talking about maternal death and children's rights.
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